The Life of It
by SummerSmilez
Summary: This story is about a draenei/tauren named Irinei. She lives in Shattrath. She wants to explore outside of Shat but doesn't think it is very likely. What will happen to her? Will she stay hidden and safe or will she dare to explore and escape? R


I'm Irinei Warhoof, I'm half draenei half tauren and most of my looks are from my mother, who is the draenei. I am eight feet tall, I have blue skin, and instead of the glowing eyes of the draenei, I have my dad's auburn colored eyes. My hair is the color of my dad's fur. Instead of the draenei tail I have a smaller version of a tauren tail. I live in Shattrath in Aldor Rise area. I've lived in Aldor Rise for all my life, I could live in a different area, I suppose. I guess I've just become so used to having my home in that area. It was a normal day today, I came home from my training and I went straight to the Inn and talked to the Innkeeper. Zillis, the Innkeeper, was one of my best friends, actually. She was a draenei, she was really fun to talk to, she was my age, and she was also in the combat training courses, so she knew all the instructors and such.

"Okay, so tell me again why you even have to learn all these silly moves if you aren't going to use them in the every-day situations?" I enquired. I really was curious, I mean if my father owned an Inn, and I knew I was destined to be the Innkeeper when he was ill, died, or I was just coming of age for the job, I wouldn't go to training for 10 years - or possibly not at all!

"Well there is a slight chance that something might happen-"

"A one one-hundredth of a chance," I interrupted under my breath - though she heard.

"No matter how slim the chance is, there is still a chance that some intruder may come to the Inn and I want to help defend it, I don't want to just be an easy kill, or worse, just cower in fear and watch helplessly like a little damsel in distress!" She wrinkled her nose at the thought.

"I guess learning it does get me stronger, and I feel more protected when I'm alone." I trailed on.

"And you did meet some rather interesting people," she added. I sighed,

"I just wish I could go on and use my talents! I've learned all this, and I have so much power that hasn't been used. I can feel it! Being locked away in Shattrath leaves me so bored," I frowned and looked up at her, she was frowning too. "Not that I don't love talking with you!" I added quickly, hoping she didn't think that I was bored of her. She laughed.

"I know that, I was frowning because I feel the same way you do except you have a better chance of getting out of this place. I am pretty much set and stone at this counter," She hit the counter with her palm for effect.

"I have a zero percent chance. How can my odds be better than yours?" I had a sour edge to my tone and that surprised me.

"Well, you know I'm an only child,"

"So am I!" I snapped, interrupting her once again.

"Let me finish, please," She told me, as if she were . I folded my hands in my lap and looked at her wide eyed as if to show I was prepared to listen full on. "I'm an only child and there will be no one left to look after the Inn if I leave, and also my family has lived here for generations if I were to leave," she shook her head, "if I were to leave my family name would be forgotten and all our hard work with the Inn, and the battles, and the training would be for nothing." I could see that she was tearing up a little and was blinking back the tears.

"You're not seriously crying, are you?" I let out a sarcastic groan to lighten the mood. She laughed,

"No, I just haven't dusted this place in weeks. I guess that teaches me to blow off my Innkeeper responsibilities." I swiped my index finger against the counter and inspected it as if I was a detective looking for clues.

"Tsk, tsk, shame on thee." I joked trying to sound serious. It was more or less a challenge because of the fact that I was holding in laughter. "Okay, so I've heard what your excuse of not being able to get out is and I get that, but how do I have a better chance?" I was weighing the possibilities in my mind on whether bringing that subject up again was a good idea.

"Your family hasn't been here for generations, if you were to leave you wouldn't really be leaving anything behind that would climb back generation to generation for centuries."

"You know my parents would kill me if I even mentioned the thought of leaving here."

"So why mention it?" she challenged. I glowered at her.

"Are you telling me that if I ever wanted to go I should just sneak away and hope they don't notice? Uh, news flash besides each other I'm pretty much all they have to remember!"

"On the contrary they have to remember their jobs and the bills…" She smiled a wide _can you beat that_ smile.

"Yes, because if I am gone for forty years to life the vigorous thoughts of paying the rent and going to work will easily make them forget long enough to not have a panic attack and most likely get sent to the first aid guy."

"Hey, it's a possibility." I raised an eyebrow she sighed, "Yeah, your right I got nothin'." I beamed,

"Told you," I fake coughed. She tapped her ear,

"I can hear you, remember?" I laughed and decided to bring my father's not-so-well hearing into this.

"I think I've been around my dad too long, sometimes he doesn't even hear what I say to him if I'm talking as I am right now! He would've never heard me cough that." We both laughed and sighed.

"Hey, your parents should be home in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…" And right on cue my mom walked through the archway into the Inn and, naturally, greeted us.

"Hey, girls, what are you two doing?" My mother, Laaleni, was a light grey color and she half a foot shorter than I was. She had shiny silver-white curls that sort of reminded me of the moon. Her eyes were bright and she was smiling as if something wondrous had just happened in the two seconds that she'd been here.

"Um, nothing much, you know just talking." I replied casually.

"Oh. How was training?" I was about to answer when hearing my dad walk in distracted me. My father, Olmahein, was eight and a half feet, with honey-chocolate fur and long horns. His auburn eyes were one of the few traits I got from him.

"Hey, Dad," I waved.

"Sir," Zillis nodded his way.

"Olmahein, where have you been? We've been waiting for you." My mother put on a disapproving face.

"I was 3 minutes late!" He objected. I looked at Zillis and we burst out laughing. When we settled a bit I glanced at her and remembered our earlier conversation on leaving Shattrath and showing her a mini display of what would happen if I even brought it up, even if it was obviously a joke.

"Bye, you guys. See you later, maybe." I was strolling out towards the archway and gave them a quick wave.

"Wait, where are you going?" My mother asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Um, Orgrimmar, duh," I said as if it were obvious that I would go that far away.

"Orgrimmar?" My mom gasped in a panicky fashion.

"Irinei, you are not setting foot out of Shattrath. It's for your own good." My father said in a stern but somewhat pleading tone.

"Nah, I'm going to go."

"Please." Mother whispered.

"Come on! You guys, how did you not know that was a joke? Did you not hear the sarcasm in my voice when I even mentioned that place? I mention a big city that isn't neutral, no matter how obviously sarcastic or light, I get gasps and pleas of 'No don't it's not safe for you,'" My mother let out a sigh of relief and then a nervous laugh.

"Of course we knew," My father gave her a confused look as if to say 'No we didn't' and she elbowed him in the ribs. "We were just playing along."

"Yup, sure, Mom, you two continue to believe that."

"Well, I'd better get supper ready. Come, Olmahein, you have to pick out a new recipe for me to try out tonight." I glanced over at Zillis and gave her smug smile

"Okay, so they are a bit over dramatic; it'll pass eventually!"

"A bit over dramatic? More like a lot!"

"But 'a lot' wouldn't make sense in that sentence." She objected; I scowled.

"You know what I mean. Fine then let's say hugely over dramatic. That makes sense."

"Indeed it does. Well, I guess I should probably get to work," She sighed. "And you should probably practice the new skills you learned today."

"You're right, as usual." We laughed. I grabbed my staff that was leaning against the wall and I walked up towards my room. I was thinking about something that we were talking about way earlier. I was thinking about when we were talking about my skills and my powers. I knew I could feel it in me, I needed to use it. If I didn't use it now, when they were new, what would happen? Would they continue to get stronger and stronger and suddenly burst resulting in a huge explosion of Shattrath? Or worse, would they fade with time and disappear so that one day if I really needed to use them for the sake of saving Shattrath or my home I wouldn't be able too. I tried to think of a distraction but nothing came to mind. I decided to picture what it looked like outside of Shattrath. That always calmed me. I pictured myself on a battle field with a bunch of refugees, but I didn't know who we were fighting, all I knew was that we were ready to attack. As I grew more and more sleepy all that I pictured stayed with me in my dream. I was still with the refugees and I was confused, but still composed in the fighting position. That's when my dream started to change. The people I was fighting with changed from refugees of random races to all alliance and then all horde and back again. I was so confused. Then they started switching so fast that they were halves like me. Then it suddenly became a two-sided battle, alliance on one side and horde on the other. I was in the middle and there was a chalk circle drawn around me. I was so confused I didn't know which side to choose. Suddenly as I was looking at both sides hopelessly I saw two familiar faces. It was my mother and father, both with a devilish grin on their faces. They didn't look like my parents. My father looked excited and impatient; he wanted the battle to begin. My mother looked annoyed. Don't they know it's me? What was I supposed to do? Should I go to the alliance with my mother or should I join the horde with my father? What if I didn't choose any? The sick thing about that was I _wanted _to choose a side and I wanted to have a place where I belonged; I just didn't know where that place was. While I was thinking on which side to choose the surroundings changed in a flash it went from hundreds of people on each side to my mother on one side of me and my father on the other. They were still in battle positions.

"Come, come to the alliance and be a hero," My mother persuaded.

"No." My father objected looking me straight in the eye, "Come to the horde, we have a future of ultimate power!"

"We are more civilized!" Mother snapped back.

"We have higher strength!"

"We are wealthier!" They glowered at each other. I didn't know what to do. I felt like screaming, "Cut it out, cut it out! It doesn't matter! You two are my parents you shouldn't be ready to kill each other!" but nothing came out. Then someone came through the forest. It was a human.

"She's not choosing," he said to them, "She must be persecuted."

"What about being neutral?" I asked in a voice that didn't sound like my own, it sounded hopeless, lost, and depressed. It also sounded deeper. He looked at me as if I was crazy and my parents laughed.

"Neutral," he laughed aloud "We wiped out all the neutrals, what, 3 years ago now?" My father nodded. I felt weak and hopeless I didn't know what to do. I felt like crying. I saw the human pull out a sword, I instinctively reached for my staff, and it was not there. So I put my hands over my head crouched down and let out a scream and woke up with a gasp. I looked around my room the light shining through the window. It was a dream, only a dream.

**A/N: Sorry for all of the short chapters. Please, feel free to review your thoughts on the chapter. This has been revised since my first post, so maybe it's a little better. ****J**

**I will update soon - hopefully. Sorry, I'm working on a couple projects right now, and life is busy, you know? **


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